Microplastics - Waiotahe Beach
Microplastics Investigation
Our Ōpōtiki students were determined to discover whether there were any microplastics embedded in the sand at Waiotahe beach, in the Ōpōtiki district.
PTC Trust partnered with Dr Parker from SCION to afford rangatahi the opportunity to conduct this investigation.
Microplastics are plastic fragments less than 5mm. Many of these fragments are a result of washing various fabrics, personal hair and skin care products and decomposing of fibres and larger plastics. The problem is the resultant ingestion of these microplastics by sea creatures that then make their way up the food chain.
On 08 June 2022, University of Canterbury researchers discovered the first set of microplastics in the snow in Antarctica. The researchers reported ‘an average of 29 microplastic particles per litre of melted snow, which is higher than marine concentrations reported previously from the surrounding Ross Sea and in Antarctic sea ice’.
Our rangatahi enjoyed a hands-on, sunshine-baked day learning of the adverse effects of these microplastics on our environment and to our health.
PTC workshop featured in their July panui.